Who were the drunkest performers you saw on stage?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by spencer1, Sep 26, 2019.

  1. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Gregg Allman on the I'm No Angel tour in the 80s at the Chestnut Cabaret in Philly.

    Basically the only things he did with his organ were
    - grab it to keep from falling off his bench
    - make random note clusters when he fell forward on the keyboard.

    Lost every shred of respect for him at that show.

    This was a little while before he canned the Allman Brothers best songwriter and musician for having a drinking problem.
     
  2. Curveboy

    Curveboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    Sass Jordan at the Cat Club in New York on the Rats tour. Let me say it was an AMAZING show...but she did say something about how drunk she was and her eyes were closed for a lot of it, but she sounded great and I believe Taylor Hawkins was on drums (pre-Foo Fighters)
     
    Sean, MYQ1 and squittolo like this.
  3. Crimson jon

    Crimson jon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston
    Thread topper I'd guess...drunk van halen was like a garage band mess despite their amazing musicianship and ultra high energy.
     
    hiterss, squittolo and g.z. like this.
  4. rockerreds

    rockerreds Senior Member

    Tim Hardin at The Main Point 1976
    Dennis Wilson at The Mann Center 1983
     
  5. saturdayboy

    saturdayboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    The Replacements - pretty much every time they played back in the day
     
    WithinYourReach, KeninDC and uzn007 like this.
  6. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    A friend saw him, his nose ran so continuously that his shirt and guitar were wet with coke-laced snot. Many people left. My friend has a strong stomach.
     
    squittolo likes this.
  7. Frightwig

    Frightwig Forum Resident

    Beach Boys, late 70s Brisbane. They were fighting each other onstage
     
  8. mikee

    mikee Forum Resident

    Also the Kinks and also in S. Calif - at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium 1971 - sloppy!
     
    squittolo likes this.
  9. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    I can't remember a lot of drunk performers that I've seen (maybe Lucinda Williams), but I remember the 'Mats opening for the dB's, ca. 1984, arguing with each other onstage about what they were going to play next.
     
  10. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Dewey Redman at the now defunct One Step Down, mid-'90s. Stayed for three sets. After each set he disappeared and came back notably more under the influence. It didn't hurt his playing at all, although he often muttered to himself and into his sax, especially when kicking off the next song.
     
    420JJJazz666 and Spin Doctor like this.
  11. Old Zorki II

    Old Zorki II Storm Watcher

    Location:
    near Tampa, FL
    I saw him drunk too, and he still could play remarkably well!
     
    squittolo likes this.
  12. He's sober and playing really well right now, but this from as recent as 2007 for Michael Schenker was just stunning:

     
    D.B. and squittolo like this.
  13. sami

    sami Mono still rules

    Location:
    Down The Shore
    The Replacements, opening for Tom Petty in the late 80's. They were clearly hammered, and it was one of their classic onstage messes. Paul was pretty much incoherent.
     
  14. KeninDC

    KeninDC Hazy Cosmic Jive

    Location:
    Virginia, USA
    Another one for the reliable Replacements. 80s. Charlottesville, VA. Trax or The Mineshaft. Can't remember which club. The band was drunker than even my friends and me.
     
    squittolo, Sean, budwhite and 3 others like this.
  15. g.z.

    g.z. Senior Member

    :agree: Truth.
     
    squittolo likes this.
  16. flaxton

    flaxton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Uk
    A mate went to see Gary Moore in the seventies. Really drunk. Walked to the edge of the stage during the first song and fell off. End of gig.
     
    hiterss, john lennonist and squittolo like this.
  17. craymcla

    craymcla Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    I saw the Dolls in Memphis on their Fall of 1973 tour with Iggy opening. (More on that below.) When they came back on for an encore, there was mayhem at the front of the front of the stage and for some reason Johnny slammed his vintage TV LP Special down on the stage, breaking the neck clean off. (I personally believe it was the guitar on the Too Much Too Soon cover.) Years later in a Mojo story, a roadie for the Dolls brought up that particular show and said that the volume of one of the pickups was turned down. When Johnny switched to that pickup and no sound came out, he thought the guitar was broken, so he smashed it into the stage.

    As far as the concert goes, Memphis police were notoriously strict at rock concerts and did not like anybody in the aisles, audience or performer. Iggy lamented that he couldn't come out into the audience. The Dolls respected the boundaries, but when they came out for the encore, somebody in around the 10th row shouted "F--k you!" and David Jo Hansen replied back inquizitively, "Who wants to f--k me?" (Another no-no for the police.) At that, the guy runs down the aisle, leaps on stage and kisses Jo Hansen, leaps back off and tries to get back to his seat. The police nab him, the band starts playing, and the audience rushes the front of the stage while the cops are still dealing with the interloper. In that mayhem, Thunders breaks his guitar and David picks up the broken guitar, body and neck only connected by the strings, and tosses it into the audience. When the song was over, the cops came on stage and took Jo Hansen away, with him looking at the audience and giving an exaggerated shrug of his shoulders. We never found out just what the deal was, but we think it was because he said "f--k".
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2019
  18. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    And that, oh my children, was rock and roll.
     
  19. craymcla

    craymcla Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    I saw Muddy Waters and, I think, Bo Diddley, on the lawn at Vanderbilt in the early 80's. Muddy Waters and his band were playing and a clearly drunk Greg Allman wanders out on stage in the middle of a song. He wants to sit in with the band, but has obviously not cleared it with anybody beforehand. He kind of staggers over to the piano to try and sit down, but the piano player refuses to budge. Greg stands there swaying slightly for several moments, staring at the guy, before turning around and just wandering off stage into the wings. All while the band plays on. And that was the last we saw of Greg Allman.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2019
    hiterss, Sean, squittolo and 3 others like this.
  20. misteranderson

    misteranderson Forum Resident

    Location:
    englewood, nj
    Philly Joe Jones? I don’t think I’ve ever heard bad Blakey.
     
    squittolo likes this.
  21. BwanaBob

    BwanaBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    I just tried to find pictures of him from that era. It wasn't ringing any bells. I seem to recall the guy was heavier set.
     
    squittolo likes this.
  22. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    Walter 'Shakey' Horton... he kept stumbling back on stage to join John Mayall at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. John was a gentleman about it, respect for a legend and all that.
     
    DTK likes this.
  23. Chris Bernhardt

    Chris Bernhardt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago IL
    Just curious: did you see him in NYC or Chicago?

    True story: in my 20's my band used to rehearse and store our gear at Buddy Guy's Legends . After a gig , and returning our gear, Legends was still open which was odd. Going in Van Morrison was onstage with Junior having a good time. The guitar player who I believe was local Chicago legend , named George Baze, introduced Van as " Vance Morris". I had good friend who loves Van Morrison so after the gig, when the crowd was cleared out, I went to get his autograph despite his surely reputation. He looked at me , gaged if he wanted to or not, and I'm guessing because he was in such good spirts, decided to sign it. Junior and Van were so drunk.... and I have never seen this before....so drunk.... that they were talking other , every word coming out of each others mouth was totally incomprehensible, but they totally understood each other.
     
  24. BwanaBob

    BwanaBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    I just looked at Blakey from that era. That's the look I remember, so, if it wasn't him, it was someone with a similar build and general appearance.
     
  25. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    That's just part of Shane's M.O. unfortunately.
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine